Phil Jackson believes commissioner David Stern's threat of harsher punishments for comments critical of NBA referees was a "heavy-handed" way to deal with what he called "gamesmanship" by coaches in the playoffs.

"When you start throwing one- and two-game suspensions in the threats, I think that means a lot to both ball clubs and to coaches," Jackson said before practice Friday. "It seems awful heavy-handed to me, but David is one, he isn't shy about being heavy-handed.

"There's a certain gamesmanship that goes on that obviously he feels cheapens the game."